New Gay TV Show is As Gay as Lesbian Porn

http://marionjensen.com/2009/12 While we’re on the subject of Gaza, Ferguson and killing African babies every time we waste water for ALS, I figured it was time to discuss something equally as emotive and controversial, the fall television line-up. There are, as per usual, lots of new programs pixelating our screens this fall. Most of them will become a distant memories shortly after they premier, much like The Hasselhoffs.

PHOTO CREDIT: A&E TV

I scrolled through the synopses of upcoming shows looking for the gays. I found one.

Remember Sean Saves the World – that gay-but-not-gay sitcom about a single, gay man and his overbearing mother played by a beloved comedic actress? As you recall, it didn’t last too long despite the talented leads, Sean Hayes and Lynda Lavin, and the show was not as successful in normalizing gays as parents as Will & Grace was in normalizing gays. CBS brings us its gay-but-not-gay sitcom, The McCarthys.

PHOTO CREDIT: CBS

The McCarthys is about a tight-knit, Irish Catholic, sports-loving family in Boston. Tyler Ritter plays Ronnie, the gay son who knows nothing about sports. Nothing cliché there. Tyler himself is not a gay, but his father played a gay-but-not-gay-man in the 1970s show Three’s Company, so he’s got just as much credibility as Sean Hayes, right?

PHOTO CREDIT: ABC TELEVISION

Laurie Metcalf is Ronnie’s mother, and while I adore her, Lynda Lavin has got my overbearing-mother-of-a-gay vote. I shouldn’t compare the two shows, really. Sean was a gay dad looking for love, and Ronnie is a gay man without children…looking for love.

The McCarthys seems more Everybody Loves Raymond than Sean Saves the World, but my expectations for staying power are more Sean Saves the World. The trailer shows family members bumbling their way through assumptions about gay people, and we’re supposed to laugh at every faux pas, assuming we’re all in on the joke. I’m not convinced. A successful show with gay main characters will appeal to a gay audience as well as a straight audience. The McCarthys feels like lesbian porn: made by, targeted to and starring straight people. Gay but not gay, emphasis on the not gay.

This first impression of The McCarthys was brought to you by a three-minute trailer. Let’s tune in October 30^th and compare notes after an actual show.

And just for shits n giggles, follow the link to take a look at an interview with cast member and Not So New Kid On The Block Joey McIntyre who plays one of Ronnie’s brothers. I had to watch it three times because of the woman who appears behind him, chewing her gum with the graceful, rhythmic force of a goat. Am I supposed to know who she is? Is she a PR agent? Joey’s wife? His mother? Another actress? I’m sorry if I don’t recognize someone I should. She has that Hollywood reconstructed face that makes them all look like ageless, monstrous clones.